Vengeance
by Junipertree
Summary: Once Sasuke has his revenge, the only thing left for him is to become that which he despises. Itachi x Sasuke, Naruto x Sasuke [finished!]
1. Emptiness

Disclaimer: Credit to Kishimoto Masashi and all. :D

I might continue this if I get the whim. I left the ending fairly open. We'll see.

**Vengeance**

Sasuke had never been unaware of the consequences of his choices. He had made the decision, long ago, to avenge his clan and kill his brother. It wasn't a one-dimensional decision. He did it because he wanted to preserve the pride of the clan, because he wanted to preserve his own pride, because he loved his family, and let's not forget the most important thing: Sasuke hated Itachi with every piece of flesh and bone inside him. The very fact that Itachi was alive made Sasuke physically ill.

So many times, Sasuke had recieved the same lecture. "What are you going to _do_ once you get what you want? What will be left after you achieve your revenge?" Words repeated themselves, forming on Kakashi's lips, on Tsunade's, on Naruto's. Sasuke didn't care. All of them missed the point. There would never be anything after revenge. There would never be an emptiness sinking into his gut with a lack of passion for anything alive or dead. Sasuke's life was his revenge. Without it, he had nothing.

Revenge gave him strength and revenge gave him determination. Sasuke had built years upon years of suffering for a single moment of triumph, and that moment was in his hands now.

Sasuke had escaped Orochimaru after learning what he had needed. Of course he had known that Orochimaru only wanted his body – he was no fool, after all. There were others more powerful than Orochimaru and better ways to attain power.

Sasuke's chest heaved, his blood-streaked fist clenching the neck of Itachi's robes. Sasuke had not come out of the fight unscathed, but his wounds meant nothing. This was it, the insurmountable wall. Sasuke now realized that Itachi had his weaknesses, weaknesses that a quick mind could exploit.

"You always had you damned pride." Sasuke hissed. His right hand shot forward to grasp Itachi's neck. His thumb pressed against Itachi's throat, his nail scraping a crescent of blood across the pale skin of his neck. "You thought you were God."

Itachi's eyes maintained that same false mystery, but his shallow breathing told another tale. "The mangekyou...?" He coughed. "You never..."

"I never killed my 'closest friend', you mean?" A hoarse noise that was supposed to be a laugh crawled out of Sasuke's throat. "You're a fool." Itachi was flung to the ground. Sasuke raised one foot and pressed his brother's left hand into the mossy forest soil.

"Killing the one closest to you is the shortcut to that power. I gained it the hard way: By killing my soul one piece at a time." Sasuke smiled. "And in the end, the mangekyou meant nothing. Your overuse of a jutsu that uses so much chakra was your own downfall."

Sasuke wanted to draw this out. Kicking, prodding, pressing, he squeezed the life out of Itachi's body. If this moment was going to be the climax of his life, then he would make it last.

Itachi's eyes were glassing over, but Sasuke would not let him go unconcious. Sasuke kneeled down until he looked his brother in the eye and gripped Itachi's now-ragged mane in one fist and pulled Itachi forcibly up by his hair. "Was I to be the stick that you measured yourself against? Was I to be another one of your tools?"

Itachi's gaze slid to meet Sasuke's. "How ironic." The older man whispered. "The sword I was forging has impaled me."

Rage pooled in Sasuke's stomach. He didn't want it to be ironic. He wanted Itachi to submit to him, to beg, to cry, to plead for mercy. He wanted to make Itachi hurt like he had.

"And now I'm going to kill you, you fucking traitor." Sasuke's grip on Itachi's neck tightened just a notch. "And I'm going to make you scream before you die."

Itachi's fingers twitched, but he said nothing.

Something had not only flipped Sasuke's 'rage' switch on, it was madly yanking it back and forth, sending him into waves of hot and cold. He wanted a response, not this silence. He wanted something to come out of Itachi and invade him and give him a reason to be so full of anger. He could hear a voice reapeating the same words over and over again.

"I hate you. I hate you. I hate you." It was his own voice.

His grip tightened further and he heard Itachi choke. He loosened his hold quickly. He didn't want this to end, not yet.

"Tell me you hate me." Sasuke said.

Itachi's eyes were blank.

"Tell me you want me dead." Sasuke said.

Itachi looked away, not paying attention.

"Tell me I meant something to you!" Sasuke screamed, shaking Itachi back and forth like a limp doll.

Itachi's lips parted. "You mean nothing to me. You never have."

Paper ripped and glass shattered. Stone crumbled under its own weight. Sasuke's fingers dug into Itachi's flesh, into his eye socket, into his throat. He was screaming and screaming until he could feel blood in his throat, bubbling and boiling between his teeth and to drip from his mouth and mingle with the tears that were seeping into the cloth at his neck. He was screaming words that had now become synonymous with 'I hate you.'

"I love you, aniki. Why can't you understand that!"

Itachi's remaining eye widened for a single, almost imperceptable moment before rolling back into his head. The pulse beneath Sasuke's fingers slowed to a halt. All he could hear was the sound of his own breathing. His blood and Itachi's reeked in his nostrils.

Sasuke loved Itachi enough to kill him and he'd killed him enough to love him. His emotions twisted in on themselves and ate their own tails, spinning until the ends were the beginnings and the beginnings were the ends. His fingers wormed into flesh that was dead but still hot, as if struggling to find a soul that wasn't there and had, in fact, never been there in the first place.

This was the moment of his life were everything was supposed to have meaning, and yet suddenly it meant nothing at all, and it had never meant anything. Bloody fingers jerked through hair that he'd grown long like his brother's. Age had creased lines under his eyes that mirrored the empty socket under his left hand. He'd discarded the blue of the Uchiha in favor of the red of blood and the black of revenge. He'd thrown away everything that he had ever wanted and everything that he'd ever not wanted for good measure.

Before now, he'd planned to die at this point. Die like his clan and his family and his brother. Now death seemed as meaningless as everything else.

It took him a long time to get up again. He couldn't remember how long he'd lain there, embracing what was more a slab of flesh than a body.

Sasuke untied the cloak from around Itachi's shoulders and pulled it out from under the body. There was blood all over it and it was torn. Sasuke kind of like it that way. He then pried Akatsuki's ring from Itachi's stiffened finger.

_You aren't dead, aniki, _Sasuke said. _But I am._


	2. Filling Space

Disclaimer: Kishimoto Masashi. Hasn't changed.

So I decided to continue. Thanks to my reviewers and their support of angst. And thanks to Wikipedia for refreshing my very fuzzy memory on Akatsuki...

...and I also took some liberty with Akatsuki, becuase a few of the members have yet to be introduced.

Plus, squinting is no longer necessary. :P

**Vengeance**

In Akatsuki, there were only two things that mattered: Power and loyalty. Sasuke had never understood why Itachi, who had hated most of all to be held back, had kept loyalty to an organization that demanded he jump at their call.

One became a member of Akastuki automatically if one defeated – that means killed – another member. It was simple, but difficult enough that the members were fairly stable.

After killing Itachi, Sasuke didn't run straight to the Akatsuki headquarters (he hadn't been tailing Itachi for this long not to know at least that). No, that would have been a desperate act. Sasuke knew that they would find Itachi's body, then come to him.

Sasuke had nothing that he would call 'home' or a 'hideout' – or even a 'lair' – but he had places that he had secured for himself. People who owed him favours and areas that no one else would dare touch.

As Sasuke watched the sun sink into the horizon, he began to feel his wounds. What had seemed minor in the heat of the moment bled his strength from him in the red sunset. He needed to rest.

xxxxx

After binding his injuries, Sasuke fell asleep immediately. He woke up with his fingers of one hand clenched around the neck of his attacker and and a kunai pointed at his opponent's gut. His eyes were still closed.

"Cute."

Sasuke was now gripping a wooden stick. "Fuck you."

A feminine giggle. "Just seeing how you're feeling in bright and early in the morning. You seem to have aquired some new accessories." A tattered Akatsuki robe was dangled above his nose, and the ring he had thought was on his finger dropped into his chest.

"Just remember this, Sasuke-kun," a voice whispered into his ear, lips just barely brushing the edges. "Itacchan was by no means the strongest among us."

Sasuke's face burned in the humiliation of hearing his brother referred to in such a derogatory manner. "I don't remember allowing you to address me that way."

"Don't like Sasuke-_kun_?"

Sasuke's arm lashed in the direction of the voice. He felt fabric rip through his fingers and then a flash of darkness escaped his tiny shelter. With a slight wince, he raised himself to his knees. "You will address me as Itachi only."

Another laugh. "Even cuter, Itacchan..." The voice faded into the distance.

xxxxx

Sasuke spent the next few days recovering. He mended the cloak, though there were still blood stains. He spent very little time sleeping, though he knew that it would have done him some good. Blood poured down the inside of his closed lids and he didn't want to see it. When he fell into a fitful rest he would wake up clawing at his neck, as if prying away fingers that strangled him. At least when he woke up he would forget dreams that seemed more like waking hallucinations.

xxxxx

_Fingers splayed on his chest were slick with blood and sweat. His head was tilted back and he couldn't see the face attatched to the hands. He didn't need too. _

_"You know, Sasuke..." A rare smile – "Rather, Itachi... this is what they mean by becoming one."_

_Wet heat fell on his neck, sliding up to his ear. The breath of air made him shiver. "You're me now. You have just what you want."_

_"You... never understood what I wanted."_

_"I know everything now. I am you. Because you want it so badly you can't stand it."_

xxxxx

Sasuke woke with an arousal burning his cheeks and the ring on his left finger burning his skin. He tried to pull it off but it seemed to be melded to his skin. He pushed off his covers and lay there for a while, waiting for his body to cool down. He felt like his flesh had been slowly melting on his bones.

His fingers dragged across his neck, as if reminded of a touch there. He closed his eyes and tried to remember but nothing came to him.

Shaking his head as if to rid the scraps of memory, Sasuke rose to don his cloak and leave his shelter. It was time to stop hiding; now was the time to make his move.

If someone were to ask him what it was that he wanted from Akatsuki, Sasuke would not be able to answer, even if he had wanted to. Their goals seemed to revolve around aquiring power purely for the sake of power, something that he had never understood. But taking Itachi's place filled a gaping hole that wouldn't be filled with anything that he had ever known.

For so long, Sasuke had been doing want he wanted. He was tired. He needed someone to tell him what to do. He needed something. Anything. When life and death and everything else made him sick, all he could do was try to erase himself from his own mind.

It was then that Uchiha Itachi joined Akatsuki.


	3. Mission

Disclaimer: Yada yada yada. Sasuke is not chained, shirtless, in my basement being fed strawberries and whipped cream from my fingers.

I love Wikipedia. If I have to fake members of Akatsuki, at least I can look like I know what I'm talking about. :D

Some notes:

Niibi: Two-tails. One of the nine Biju.

White Tiger: Refers to Byakko, god of the west.

Nekomata: Japanese mythological creature with two tails, evolved from a domesticated cat. Said to have a certain power over the dead.

And finally: I don't know if it was ever clear whether Akatsuki succeeded in extracting the Ichibi no Shukaku from Gaara. I'm banking that they did, considering that he was basically abandoned and dying when they found him.

**Vengeance**

It was like a joke, really. The bright red carpet was being unfurled under his feet and he was being welcomed into Akastuki like royalty.

A shark-skinned man stopped him before he entered the leader's cave.

"Hoshigaki Kisame."

The shark's smile was more like baring fangs. "Yes. I am Itachi's partner. I will follow you into battle, but I will not protect you."

"I would never expect you to."

Kisame barked laughter and swept a large arm in a mocking bow to allow Sasuke entrance to the cave.

When he recieved orders from the leader, he never actually _saw_ the man. There were only wide eyes in the darkness and the feeling of being watched from all sides. The sound of his own breathing surounded him.

The leader did not waste his time. "I'm sure you understand your task already."

Sasuke nodded. Akatsuki's goals had been widespread news for years.

"We have aquired all Biju except for one; the most powerful is still sealed as a Jinchuuriki. Itachi was the one assigned to capture the Kyuubi. That will be your mission."

Sasuke bowed and backed out of the cavern. Various pairs of eyes followed him, assessing his power. The hair on the back of his neck rose as he felt the levels of their chakra. There was no doubt that each of them held the power of a Biju.

A hand grazed his shoulder as he passed and he turned to meet a pair of slit eyes and a toothy grin. "So Itacchan hasn't chickened out."

His gaze slid over her as he she wasn't there. He had no use for her.

A hand with a ring bearing the sign of the white tiger gripped his arm. "I enjoyed making Itachi submit to me. I hope you will also give me the pleasure."

"Let go."

She laughed. "Fire. I like that. I'll be waiting for you. Come back with the Kyuubi, and show me your true power."

Sasuke supressed a shudder as he left the scene. He felt like her power had invated every part of him. She had to be the possessor of Niibi, the Nekomata. He didn't like that she had taken an interest in him. He would be wary of her and avoid her if he could. Once he possessed the power of the Kyuubi, she wouldn't be able to say those words with such confidence.

He left the scene with Kisame at his tail.

xxxxx

Naruto rose to his feet, brushing the sand of his knees as he looked down at Gaara's grave once again. Though he had survived the initial extraction, his chakra had been thrown heavily off-balance. Used to having huge reserves of strength, Gaara, as Kazekage, repeatedly pushed himself near the point of death to protect Sunagakure. It was only a matter of time before he pushed himself one step too far.

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment to calm himself. He didn't have time to get angry. There were so many reasons to get angry, but anger would accomplish nothing. In his present role as Hokage, it was his responsibility to support the village. He couldn't do that if he was to go charging off in a suicide mission to hunt and destroy every last member of Akatsuki.

He was trying to keep up his confidence. He was trying to keep up everyone else's confidence, too. But fighting an uphill battle and losing every round wore on him with each step.

The major ninja villages were sorely depleted from repeated attacks from Akatsuki. It was clear now that the Akatsuki's prime goal had been to aquire the power of the Biju to place each of their members as heads of the major villages, with their leader in command of them all. In positions of the power, they would be poised to take control of anything they pleased. Though as yet, none of the villages had fallen, it was clear that Akatsuki were waiting for their trump card before they made their move. They wanted Naruto.

He was tired. He was sick of fighting off Akatsuki and sick of failing to protect those he loved. He just wanted everything to be okay again, but it wasn't going to be that way. It was one of the more bitter lessons that he had learned over the years. Once he had believed that one person could make the difference, but now his resolve had been weakened.

"Naruto." Sakura's eyes asked if he was ready to leave.

"Let's go." Naruto had already paid his respects to the new Kazekage. They went home.

xxxxx

Sasuke had prepared beforehand. He was ready.

He set off in the direction of Konohagakure. He was not so foolish as to attack the Jinchuuriki in the center of his territory. No, he would wait until the Kyuubi was alone to make his move.

Without thinking about it, Sasuke ran his fingers over the ring on his left hand. It was still warm, like the phoenix symbol engraved in it. He took strength from it. He would succeed.

"Stop stalling," Kisame growled. "Make your move or leave."

"If you've got nothing better to say then say nothing at all." Sasuke replied. The trees blurred around him has they leaped through the woods with lupine speed.

Kisame snorted.

Sasuke grinned in anticipation of the fight. _Let's see how Naruto has improved since last I fought him._

They broke out of the woods and into a clearing, where they stopped to rest. Reports had told him that Naruto was on a visit to the Sand. They were standing in the middle of the return path. They would wait for the Kyuubi to come here and take him then.

The corner of Sasuke's eye caught a flash of orange. His eyes sank into the deep red of Sharingan. He had no time to think; he ducked the kunai on reflex and took a step back.

He felt a wire on the back of his calf as Kisame cursed and swiftly drew his Samehada. His eyes flicked to fuda nailed to the trees around him.

Water pooled at Kisame's feet and climbed into walls around him. Seals flashed through Sasuke's hands and he raised a barrier in just enough time to protect himself from the blast.

A pair of shapes jumped down from above to hit the still-unformed area above Sasuke and Kisame's heads.

A cry of rage from the orange figure above.

"Itachi!"


	4. Escape

Disclaimer: Is everyone else sick of doing these? I am. We all know that ficcers are terrible ripoffs. :P

I am presently making up jutsu off the top of my head. I figure enough time has passed that eevryone should know how to kick ass. Also, I can't remember anything actually valid. So I get to have some fun.

I hope this chapter isn't too confusing. Mangekyou turns everything into an acid flashback. XD

**Vengeance**

An orange flash from above.

"Itachi!"

Sasuke raised an arm to block the blow and was rattled to the teeth when it connected. The orange shape jumped backwards, hands forming a pattern of seals that Sasuke didn't recognize.

Cracks opened in the sodden earth beneath Sasuke's feet, fierce wind blowing straight up from the gaps. Cursing Kisame's water jutsu, Sasuke made a skidding feint through the mud and dashed for an opening on the enemy's left. Forming one-handed seals with his right hand, he fingered a handful kunai with his left. Tight blue flames bubbled out of his hand as he threw them in alternation with the kunai. The target ducked the first knife but was hit in the back by a line of curving flames that exploded on impact.

Sasuke took the opportunity to make for the trees. He ran in the opposite direction, landing fuda-strung kunai with a series of steady thunks on trees as he passed. If he knew his opponent as well as he thought he did, the target would follow.

After a moment of suprise when he didn't hear footsteps immediately behind him, he smiled. Naruto was no longer as great a fool as he once was.

When the twin shapes once again emerged from the trees ahead of him, Sasuke cursed his judgement in leaving Kisame behind. Now it was two on one.

The fight was a blur, a series of split-second decisions and instant reactions that Sasuke no longer had to calculate. In the moment Sasuke felt the tide turn against him, he managed to cut an escape and return to where Kisame waited, smirking, traps already laid.

One moment he had the advantage with the girl wounded, and the next she had recovered and Kisame had abandoned him for good without a word of parting. The shark hadn't been lying – he would not risk his life to protect Sasuke's hide.

In a second his cape was ripped from his back and he was pinned to a tree, spitting blood at his feet. A heavy punch to the gut made him double over and fall to one knee.

"You... bastard!" Naruto spat out the insult as if he were cursing Sasuke, his ancestors, and his decendants.

Sasuke raised blank eyes to Naruto's rage. "Why is that?"

"Don't you play dumb with me." Naruto hissed. He grabbed Sasuke's collar.

Sasuke raised a hand to casually wipe away the blood trailing down his chin. It was time to pull out his trump card. He closed his eyes.

_Click._

When Naruto saw Sasuke's eyes open once more, they opened into a bottomless void. He froze. Sakura, standing behind him, crumpled to the ground as if her spirit had been sucked away.

"Why is it that you hate me?" Sasuke asked, brushing off Naruto's now-limp hand.

"You..." Naruto mumbled. "Sasuke..."

"I see." With the powerhold reversed, Sasuke now gripped Naruto's forearm. "You're angry because I killed Sasuke."

Naruto's eyes widened. "No."

"Yes." Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Just like this." His hands slid up to Naruto's neck, gripping tightly, thumbs digging into the soft flesh under the Jinchuuriki's chin.

Naruto gasped, clutching at the hands around his neck. He could see Itachi's eyes boring into his. His own hands looked foreign. He was wearing white sleeves, and black hair waved in the corners of his vision. An intense feeling of hatred filled him. He wanted to kill and to kill and to kill again. He wanted to be the one pressing his fingernails into Itachi's neck. He watched in horror as Itachi bent over him, pale lips touching his own. He bit down and tasted blood.

Itachi pulled away, removing his hands to wipe the blood from his lower lip. "What a cute little brother you are."

"No!" Naruto barked. "Get out of my head!"

Itachi licked the wound on his lip, leaning down to meet Naruto eye-to-eye. "I'll never leave your head. I am a part of you, Sasuke. I'll always be inside you."

Emotions that Naruto didn't understand and didn't want to understand scrabbled out of his throat to leave a dirty taste on his tongue. "This isn't how Sasuke was. Sasuke wasn't like this. And you're a monster."

Itachi's head turned, so that he was looking at Naruto out of the corner of his eye. "That I am. And you will never understand Sasuke. Only I can understand him. We are blood."

"Shut UP!" Naruto yelled. He closed his eyes and drew his kunai, slicing himself across the thigh. When he opened his eyes, Itachi was slumped on his side against the tree. His eyes were heavy-lidded and his breathing was shallow. His shirt was ripped, revealing a mark on his back, between the shoulder and neck.

Naruto pushed himself to his knees and crawled towards Itachi to see the mark more clearly.

It was the shape of a complete Sharingan, surrounded by the lines of a seal. It was the Tenfuuin.

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed.

"I am Itachi." The response gurgles out of Sasuke's throat.

"Sasuke, you're alive!" Naruto wanted to embrace hs old friend, but he hesitated.

"Sasuke is dead!" Sasuke pushed Naruto back.

"What are you talking about? Sasuke –"

"What is it with you and Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke! Sasuke was worthless!" Sasuke struggled to his feet. "Forget about him!"

A few limping strides broke into a run. Breathing rapidly, he gave only the slightest attention to covering his trail. He had to escape. He had been caught off-guard, but he would be ready next time.

Next time, he would kill Naruto.


	5. Not Alive

Disclaimer: As usual.

And I'm sure there's some special name for a Japanese bed-on-the-floor, but I have no idea what it is. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Sorry I took so long. Real life likes to interrupt with things like exams. And Star Ocean 3. Universe is teh sick. :P

Note: 'Iku yo' means, literally, 'let's go.' You hear it a lot in shounen anime when some character wants to get the fight started. Though I really get annoyed about fanfiction writers sticking random Japanese terms into fics, I find myself doing it more and more often. --;; I guess 'Let's GET IT ON' would sound kind of weird. :P

**Vengeance**

_He was at home. The familiar paper walls surrounded him; he was on a mat that he hadn't seen since he was a small child. _

_But there was something a bit off. The room was larger than he remembered. _

_It was Itachi's room. Itachi was there, lying on his futon, reading a book on ancient jutsu techniques._

_"You're back again." Itachi turned a page without looking up._

_"Nii-san."_

_"I'm not going to practice with you. It's a waste of time to help someone who will never improve."_

_"...That's not true."_

_"Isn't it? You haven't changed since you were eight years old. You're really still a child."_

_"I'm different now."_

_"No, you aren't. You're still as lost as you were then. You don't even know who you are." Itachi sat up and reached out his hand until his fingers touched Sasuke's chest. The fingers sunk through the clothing and the skin until Itachi's elbow met Sasuke's chest and there was nothing coming out the other side._

_Sasuke watched, transfixed, as Itachi pulled his arm out again. Itachi stood up, looking down at Sasuke from inches away. "Sasuke doesn't even exist."_

_Itachi's fingers stroked Sasuke's cheek. "The only thing that's changed is your will to survive. Why is it that you feel dead to me now? The dead can't make me feel alive."_

_In a single motion Itachi's fingers slid from Sasuke's cheek to plunge into his chest again, palm meeting Sasuke's rapidly-beating heart to squeeze around the organ. Itachi's other hand threaded through Sasuke's hair, bringing Sasuke's face up towards Itachi's._

_"Nii-san." _

xxxxx

Sasuke shot up, sweating in his bed. He was back at his last hideout, alone.

_What the fuck is this,_ he thought. _Why can't I remember that dream?_

He stumbled outside, squinting at the afternoon light. He'd slept too long.

There was a stream not far away. He went there to soak his head and clear his mind.

His head felt fuzzy even when he was awake. He couldn't remember little things, and he was constantly on edge. He hadn't felt like this since he had first been infected with Orochimaru's curse seal.

So many things were unclear right now that Sasuke clung to the things that made sense. There was only one goal that mattered now: He would kill Naruto. It was that simple.

Things were going to become more difficult now that Naruto had his guard up. Naruto had the advantage of numbers - he could call any of his ninjas to support him - and of course the Kyuubi's nearly limitless amount of chakra at his disposal.

But Sasuke knew that Naruto would never accept support. He would never allow others to suffer for his sake. That was Naruto's 'ninja way'. Sasuke almost smiled at the memory.

He would approach Naruto on terms that he could not refuse.

xxxxx

"A formal challenge?" The noise that came out of Kisame's throat sounded less like a snort and more like rock on sandpaper.

"Think about it." Dislike the shark as he did, Sasuke found himself spending more time than he had initially intended with the man. He was necessary, as the one who kept tabs on Sasuke for Akatsuki and made sure that he wasn't stepping over any lines. "If I plan for something more discreet, it will only be an opportunity for more interference. I need this to be Naruto alone, and he's just the kind of fool who would accept that kind of challenge."

Kisame's eyes narrowed. "You never used to do this kind of thing before." Kisame was referring to Itachi. Sasuke had trained him well, though he wasn't sure if the other members of Akatsuki addressed him as they would Itachi out of respect or amusement. Most likely the latter. That would change in time.

"That's true. But I never accomplished my mission before, did I? It's time to turn over a new, previously hidden leaf. You know what I mean?" Sasuke almost smiled at his own joke.

"Your personality gets worse every day." That was Kisame's goodbye. The shark left.

Sasuke smiled.

xxxxx

It was dramatic. Naruto loved drama, Sasuke knew that much. There was something very pretty about a kunai shattering through your enemy's window at the stroke of midnight, the only indicator of its source a tag tied to the handle. It had a location, deep into neutral territory. Sasuke was positive that Naruto would go there, alone. Why? The flat side of the kunai had the Uchiha crest carved into it. It was rather ironic that Naruto could not possibly mistake the kunai as belonging to anyone else.

Sasuke waited calmly at the given location. Kisame was waiting also, hidden a short distance away. Sasuke had long ago abandoned his childish notions of fair play. This was about destroying the target with efficiency, not about an honorable duel to the death.

It was a beautifully staged act in a tragic play. Soon the hero would come to save his best friend, who had fallen into darkness. It would be a climactic battle between good and evil, where good would always prevail. The hero's purity and charisma would win the heart of his foe. That was the way it always ended in good theatre.

But this time Sasuke was writing the script, and he was a terrible playwright.

Naruto burst into the scene like Naruto always did, full of passion and his idealistic views of victory. Seeing his face brought back memories of their previous fights. Naruto said nothing this time, he only sank into his fighting stance with his eyes set on Sasuke as if he could devour the other man with his gaze.

"This will be different from your petty fights with Sasuke. You two fought as children. We will fight to the death. Are you ready to kill me?"

Naruto's eyes were already starting to change. He bared his teeth with an animalistic growl. "Stop fucking with me, Sasuke."

"It seems I'll have to show you what I'm talking about. Words will never get through your thick skull." Sasuke's eyes bled into deep crimson. "Iku yo."


	6. Different

Disclaimer. NarutoKishimoto MasashiYes.

Risen from the grave! I know it's been a long time. I would make some excuses, but they'd all fall pretty flat. Let's just leave it at 'one thing after another'.

At any rate, ever since the return of Sasuke (Naruto ch. 300, woo!) I've felt that I need to get back on this. I've laid my bets on what I think is going to happen in the manga, and I'm very much anticipating Sasuke and Naruto meeting again (fight fight!), hopefully with Sai present to drag away Naruto's bloody corpse (muahahaha...to bad it won't happen. Though I'm kidding, really. Really).

This chapter might be a bit confusing: _Italics_ are flashback, regular is present.

**Vengeance**

How many times had they fought already? Sasuke felt like it had been every day of his life. Their present actions were merely replays of what they'd already done a dozen times before.

_"Sasuke!" Naruto struggled to suppress the Kyuubi in his headlong rush. Sasuke smirked and countered, tightened knucles impacting the other boy flat on his nose. The crunch of bone and a choke from his opponent told him what he wanted to know._

_This would not be a fight. This would be a slaughter._

_While Naruto reeled from the impact, Sasuke grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground in a swift circular movement, pinning him on his stomach with his arm behind his back. Sasuke knelt on his back, fisting his hair and slamming his face into the ground, once, twice, three times. Naruto's free arm flailed in vain._

_"You're pathetic," Sasuke hissed. "I thought you would at least present a challenge, but it seems as if the years have only seen you grow weak."_

_Naruto went limp as Sasuke raised an arm to strike Naruto's shoulder blade with a flat palm, aiming to dislocate it. Sasuke could taste the victory already._

_A quick movement in the corner of his eye. What? Sasuke was thrown backwards, tumbling out of contro, grinding through the dirt on his shoulder's skin to a skidding stop. Naruto was pushing himself off the ground, left hand bent upward in a claw; half of the seal for the Serpent._

_"One-handed seals?" Sasuke slid to his feet. "Perhaps you will provide some entertainment after all."_

_"Entertainment!" Naruto growled. "Is that all this is?"_

_"Yes." Sasuke stared straight at Naruto, settling into a an open-palmed crouch. "You present no threat to me as I am now. I told you already, this is different than the last time."_

"This is different than the last time." Sasuke's palms slapped together, fingers linking and shifting too fast for the eye too see.

"You're wrong." Naruto cut through the flames that had encircled him in rings and feinted to the side. "There's you. There's me. It's been the same every time."

"That's the problem with you, Naruto," Sasuke's hands clicked into a final seal and the rings of flame surrounding Naruto grew into blazing columns. "You can't accept it when you're wrong."

_"You can't accept it when you're wrong. You have this crazy idea that you're going to defeat me and drag me back to Konoha with you."_

_Naruto's bared teeth told Sasuke that he was right. "You're a fool. Orochimaru offers me more than those pathetic fools in Konoha ever could. Peace is only a breeding ground for weakness."_

_"Are you saying that the time you spent with us meant nothing?" Naruto grouwled, eyes narrowing. _

_"The memories I have of that time are emptiness and wasted space. I no longer know anyone named Naruto."_

_With an animal roar the Kyuubi that Naruto had struggled to restrain began breaking its bonds. Sasuke smirked. He had been right; the Hokage-clone had instructed Naruto to not use the power of the Kyuubi. If Naruto would not use the fox-demon, then it would use him. "Sasuke!"_

_"Your cries annoy me." Sasuke's eyes widened and shot through Naruto, the triad of tomoe weaving through Naruto's head in patterns that felt familiar and yet totally unrecognisable._

_In an instant that was eternity thoughts and uncertainties that Naruto could barely remember having clawed their way to the front of his brain, throbbing with the intensity of a screaming child. In that moment he gripped himself, desperately trying to confirm his existence. He fell to his knees and crawled towards Sasuke, needing to know that he was there. In that moment, he knew despair._

_Sasuke, who had been braced for impact, was trouwn off his feet again when the suffocating wave of chakra hit him, surrounding him and beating upon him with a red-hot burning that went far beyond human._

_Forcing his eyes open against the storm, he saw Naruto in the centre of a bubbling cloud of steam. Far away he thought he heard cries, people yelling to each other, to Naruto. Sasuke could only watch as skin was ripping itself in bloody strips from Naruto's arms and face and exploding into bubbles of burning chakra. An immense, malignant face loomed over him, the demonic chakra pressing him down and down until he felt he would pass out. Naruto's screams were barely audible over the rising roar as the fox sprouted one tail after another. One. Two. Three. Four. _Five. **Six.**

_Sasuke didn't see anything else after that._

_xxxxx_

_When Naruto woke up, he was swathed in bandages, strapped to a bed in a barred chamber. The last thing he remembered was Sasuke's words._

_"I no longer know anyone named Naruto."_

_He would have felt angry if he had had the strength. He lay there and waited for someone to realize that he was awake._

_The first person to enter was Yamato, Sakura second. _

_"What's happened to Sasuke?" The first words out of Naruto's mouth._

_Yamato was silent. Sakura also said nothing._

_Naruto wouldn't accept their silence. "Tell me what happened! Where's Sasuke!"_

_Still they said nothing. Naruto was as suffocated by the silence as if it had been the immense chakra of a demon. What would have been screaming cries of agony emerged from his ravaged throat as only weak and pitiful sobs. Through the tears in his eyes he saw the claw marks that slashed the inside of the bars in his cell, the deep gouges in the floor, and the blood stains that covered the thrice-repainted seals that covered the room floor-to-ceiling. _

_"Tell me what happened." _

_Naruto was met with the deafening silence._

"For _two years_ I thought I'd killed you." Naruto's barrier dispelled Sasuke's flame. "I truly believed I was a monster. I wanted to die."

Sasuke unflurled twin chains of curving blades, jerking and rattling, a deadly toy. "Spare me your life story."

"When I found out you were alive, I was _furious_. Why was I the last to know! I know you better than anyone!"

Wrists flicked and steel snakes licked droplets of blood off Naruto's cheek, bit a slice of flesh off an arm that moved a fraction too slow.

"What am I to you!" Naruto dropped to the ground, placing his palms on the earth. The ground cracked and shattered underneath them as pieces flew into the air, smacking violently against his cheek and flinging him sideways, sending them both down to skid through the dirtslide into the bottom of the muddy trickle that was a branch of a subterrain creek. A dozen muddy hands rose from the sludge to grasp Sasuke, pinning him into filth that absorbed him as he struggled. "Haven't I told you that you're the closest person to me?"

The right words were on the tip of his tongue. As Itachi, these were the words he would have said. "Naruto... You..." He trailed off. "You mean..."

The ring on his left hand burned into his flesh, the reminder of a promise left unfufilled. Sasuke branded the words into his mouth with his tongue, imprinting them there as a memento that must not be forgotten.

"You mean nothing to me."

Naruto coughed, holding himself upright with strength born of desperation. "I'll believe that when you say it without crying."

Sasuke's face was so numb that he couldn't feel the tears that webbed his cheeks.

xxxxx

The thing Sasuke pulled earlier was supposed to be the same thing he did to Sai. Which was Orochimaru Knows What, really. I also hope the 'chakra is so overwhelming that it's suffocating' thing isn't _too_ obviously lifted from Bleach. :P


	7. Caged

Naruto is the property of Kishimoto Masashi, etc.

Here we are at chapter seven... I'll apologize again for taking so long. Right now I should be studying French, for which I have an oral exam tomorrow (yes, insert dirty joke here). Oh, well, if I can't speak French by now, then nothing's going to help me.

And oh yes, I worship chapter 306. Any outfit that shows off Sasuke's chest has my vote.

So enjoy my sweat, blood, and tears. Or rather, Sasuke's sweat, blood and tears.

**Vengeance**

_Sasuke's eyes few open at the sudden pressure on his neck. He was blindfolded and being strangled. His hands were tied behind his back in a painfully unfomfortable position, but he could only register that fact for a moment before the struggle for air took over all mental funtions. He thrashed, squirmed, bucked violently trying to shake free, but to no avail. With a final, weak shiver he fell limp in his assailant's grip._

_The moment he stopped struggling, cold fingers loosened their grip on Sasuke's bruised throat. Instead the fingers began carressing, petting him like you would stroke a favoured cat._

_"Don't forget to whom you belong."_

Sasuke woke belted hand and foot to a bed in a cage-like room. Eyes squinting to adjust to the bright surgical lights, he began to notice the details of the room. There was nothing but the bed in the empty, white-washed room. The wall on his right had a barred sliding gate and was caged behind thick, closely-spaced iron bars. The walls had been scrubbed clean in most areas, leaving only the faint residue of red and black paint coating the floors, walls, and ceiling. The wash job, however, could not conceal the gouging claw marks that covered the room, ripping in maddened, irregular patterns.

Turning his head, Sasuke noticed irregularities in the faded pattern of washed-over seals, places where it seemed someone had spilled a cup of paint. But no-one who was careful enough to have constructed a room like this would have spilled paint sealing it. The flaked and now-pale spots and pools on the floor had the familiar aura of blood.

_Why am I here...?_

Sasuke began to recall the fight. _Fucking Kisame. Didn't back me. _

Cursing Kisame was only a cover for more relevant thoughts, and he knew it. Sasuke closed his eyes. If he slept again, he wouldn't have to think.

xxxx

It was only by virtue of his status and strength that Naruto got into Sasuke's cell alone. His assistant had practically begged for him to take a couple jounin with him, but Naruto had refused.

"He's had the crap beaten out of him, has been unconscious for three days, and is strapped to a bed. He's not going to attack anyone. Forget it."

It was not without trepidation that Naruto entered the room where he had been caged for a length of time unmeasured. Broken, feral, and lashing out like a wounded animal, Naruto had been locked in a semi-fox state for nearly two months as a result of using the power of five of the nine tails, with periods of madness only broken by drugged sleep. Afterward, he had been told that he was lucky to be alive. He didn't feel lucky.

Then, many of Konohagakure had petitioned for his death, fearing the re-emergence of the demon fox. Only the devotion of his friends and the intervention of the fifth Hokage had saved him.

It made Naruto ill to see Sasuke in this same room. To the others, it was folly to put him elsewhere. Ranked nearly on par with Akatsuki, Uchiha Sasuke was one of the most wanted persons in the ninja countries. By law, Sasuke should have been killed on sight.

Softly palming the code-seals on the bars and sliding the gate open, Naruto opened the locks and stepped in, facing Sasuke's limp form. His regular (if one could call wearing the clothes of your dead older brother regular) outfit had been removed to search for hidden weapons, and now he was only clothed in while hospital garb. He was pale (he had always been pale) and breathing shallowly in sleep.

Looking at his face, Naruto couldn't bear to wake him. Naruto left.

xxxx

Through days and nights that bled into each other in their monotony, Sasuke began to notice Naruto's visits. Naruto would come in, look at Sasuke for a while, and leave. Sasuke found it unnerving.

The only other visiter was Sakura, who came every day to work healing ninjutsu on him. He ignored her as well.

After about a week, Sasuke found one morning that fresh seals had been painted in glowing strips around the room. His bonds we undone. He got up, weak and dizzy on his feet, and poked the writing on the walls. The words flared up, burning his fingertip. Those were no amateur works.

He wander-stumbled to the door-gate and found it a maze of seals and symbols in patterns that he didn't even recognize, much less understand. His captors had left no holes in his white cage.

On the second week, Naruto visited him again. This time Sasuke couldn't feign sleep. Sasuke noticed that the seals on the gate expanded the moment the door was opened.

Naruto sat on the floor in the middle of the room, eyeing Sasuke's slouched form in the corner. They didn't speak for a long time.

"Why haven't you killed me yet?" Sasuke broke the silence.

"I'm not going to kill you." Naruto's eyes were on the floor.

"Why the hell not? I'm only a threat to you. It would be best for everyone in your village if I were killed."

"Why the fuck do you talk like that!" Naruto's eyes shot up to pin Sasuke, enraged.

Sasuke, momentarily stunned by Naruto's fervor, said nothing.

"Tell me!"

Sasuke shrugged, still not making eye contact. "Because it's true."

"I don't care if it's true or not! I want to know what _you_ feel!" Naruto punched the ground for emphasis.

"What I or you or anybody else feels isn't important. You took the job as Sixth Hokage, you took the responsibilites, and you have to ensure the best thing for your people. Things aren't always as black and white as doing what you 'feel'."

"Do you think I don't know that?" Sasuke found a tone in Naruto's voice that he had never heard once, ever. It dislodged him, sett him off-balance. Naruto's words were sinking into _defeat_. "I know that. I know I'm supposed to do certain things, and I want those things. I used to think that if I never gave up, if I kept trying, if I never gave in, then everything would work out in the end. I still want to believe that. Please, Sasuke, don't... don't make this any harder for me."

"You're not making sense, Naruto."

"I know, I know! Nothing's making sense now. I don't know where I should go anymore. All I can trust is the memories of people who used to be close to me. I don't even know who you are now, Sasuke. I..."

Sasuke stood up. "Now I get it. You want me to be who I was before. You want to believe that there's something left of whatever we had... our 'bond', beacause it's the one point of stability in Naruto's happy little ideal life that's falling apart."

Naruto's shoulders were bowed, his face hiding itself in shadow.

Sasuke began to pace around the room. "Naruto, the idealist, gets a dose of reality. Poor baby, it happened when he was only fifteen. Well suck it up, boy, I've been living in the real world since I was eight." Sasuke's eyes bored into Naruto's hunched back.

"Stop acting like you know everything!" Naruto stood suddenly. "Pitying yourself doesn't mean you can look down on others for not being as miserable as you are!" Naruto flung his arms wide in frustration. "It's easy to be depressed all the time! It's easy to say you hate everyone, so don't even _dare _to pretend that you're somehow superior to me because you think your life is worse than everyone else's!"

"And you're a fool for going back again and again, trying to fix what can't be fixed! I chose to follow a path that would lead me to this place, I don't fool myself into thinking that what happened so many years ago is more important than right now! But here you are, standing here as vulnerable as a _sheep _in front of me. I could kill you right now!"

"But you haven't!"

Sasuke's reply was choked into thin air.

"You haven't killed me. Even though you kept saying you were Itachi, you speak to me as if you were Sasuke! You don't know who you are, either!"

Naruto stood there, held immobile, waiting for a Sasuke's response. But Sasuke couldn't say anything. All false conviction had drained out of him and he was an empty shell again – pale and cracked open, the whites seeping onto the ground and the yolk split.

Facing away from Naruto, he jerked when he felt Naruto's arms slip around him from behind to embrace him warmly. All his instincts and his head were telling him to throw Naruto off, but a force he didn't understand kept him rooted to the spot, gripping his white, baggy sleeves and wondering what was happening to him.


	8. Ghost

Man, Naruto chapters never come out fast enough. I'm hardly in a position to complain, though, seeing as I've been dragging this fic out for months.

Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto, as usual.

**Vengeance**

If Akatsuki had not chosen that moment to launch their attack on Konoha, maybe things wouldn't have worked out as they did. Maybe.

Akatsuki was sick of waiting. Itachi and then Sasuke's repeated failures in attempting to kill Naruto and harness the power of the Kyuubi had strained the leader's patience. He would attack Konoha and capture the Kyuubi in one movement. After waiting what he deemed a sufficient amount of time for Sasuke to recover from the injuries he incurred in his fight with Naruto, they launched their offensive in full force.

"Hokage! Hokage, the village is under attack!" The messenger's frenzied knocking broke Naruto away from Sasuke to walk briskly towards the door.

"Who?" Naruto demanded.

"They're wearing black and red robes and demand the surrender of the Hokage if the village is to be spared!"

In that moment Sasuke broke out of his trance. Naruto slid open the grate to leave and, distracted, didn't form the barrier seal that prevented escape while the door was open upon his exit.

That moment of distraction was all Sasuke needed. Inhuman speed plunged him past Naruto to tackle the messenger on the other side of the door. Naruto reacted a moment too slowly, and Sasuke held the head of the messenger at just the angle to break his neck. The Hokage froze.

"Hmph." Sasuke smirked. "So a messenger is worth more to you than your village?" Naruto grit his teeth. Sasuke broke the messenger's neck and ran.

Weeks of invalidity and a lack of weapons put Sasuke in no shape to fight Naruto. Plus, he just wasn't in the mood.

"Coward!" Naruto gave chase, but he had never been able to match Sasuke's speed. Naruto threw a handful of kunai in sequence, but they all missed their target and thudded into the plaster walls. It wasn't long before Naruto fell from view.

Barefoot and with his weakened body not used to running, Sasuke darted through corridors in an irregular pattern, fingers webbing genjutsu seals to conceal his passage.

Hospital hallways gave way to a reception area, now empty. Sasuke could hear yells and the sound of burning wood outside, and burst through the front doors. Bright light shone into his unaccustomed eyes, blinding him as he ran. Shifting into Sharingan, the blurry forms before him solidified to reveal buildings on fire, bodies on the ground, and arrows in flight. He needed to keep moving, and most of all – he needed a weapon.

A lone figure in white, pale, ghostlike, Sasuke darted toward the fringes of the battle and grasped a sword impaling a young woman as he passed. The confusion of battle disguised him as well as any genjutsu. Dodging blows and steel, Sasuke made for a line of trees not too far in the distance.

In an instant that Sasuke didn't even register, Sasuke was grabbed by his wrist, swung around by his own momentum and flung headlong into the ground.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Itacchan?" Sasuke's breath choked. The voice behind him lowered to breathe in his ear. "Or have we forgotten?"

Sasuke cried out as the ring on his left finger burned all the way up his arm to his chest. The pain drove him senseless, like a brand applied directly to his brain. "Is this the resolve of the Uchiha? While we have been planning, Itacchan has been _playing._" Sasuke was dropped to the ground, sweating and gasping, curled in on himself. When the worst subsided, he opened his eyes to see his assailant.

A woman stood before him, eyes slitted and wrapped in the red-clouded cloak of Akatsuki. Without her introducing herself he knew who she was.

"You disappoint me. And you were showing such promise." The pressure of her chakra beat down on Sasuke, a cold wind that made him shiver uncontrollably. "If you can't remember on your own, then I'll have to make you."

Sasuke didn't even hear the last words that come out of her mouth. He was too busy screaming. He felt like a thousand wasps were pushing on the inside of his skull, forcing it open. Broken open, a foreign and yet familiar entity was entering his body, sinking into his skin and locking itself to him with his ring.

_I'll never die. I am alive. I'll possess you forever. I own you. I am you. You are me._ Sasuke didn't have the willpower to resist. _That's it. You want me here. You know I'm superior to you. I can make you do the things you were never strong enough to do. I can cut off the ties that you could not. I've done it before._ Yes, yes he had. He'd cut off all his ties. Every bond.

_Did you ever wonder _why _I did it? No, of course you would never do that. You only see the action. Your vengeance has always been a simple knee-jerk reaction to pain, nothing more. _

_Akatsuki will change the world. You're so self-absorbed that you never think of these things. Akatsuki thinks of the global picture. A nation united – no more warring between the villages, a united government. No more lines. Something to surpass everything. Those who surpass must break the chains that bind them. You understand that much, at least._

_You know what needs to be done. I'm giving you my strength, Sasuke. You shall be the one to guide Konoha into the new era in my place. The night is over; now begins the _dawn.

A puppet jerked by strings tied by his own fingers, Sasuke was rattled to his feet. Kneeling to pick up the sword, Sasuke turned away from the forest and back to the chaos in Konohagakure.

"Feeling better, Itacchan?"

"I thought I told you not to call me by that demeaning pet name. My _name_ is Itachi." His eyes flashed red.

"You'll need this." The woman produced a red-and-black Akatsuki cloak and held it out for him to take. "Your old one was getting rather ratty."

Sasuke took it and donned it over his white hospital clothes, fastening it around his neck, a black shadow concealing only a ghost within.


	9. Jump

Disclaimer and all. Kishimoto. Yes.

Gah, I'm SO sorry for this ridiculously long wait. First there was studying, then there was exams, then there was work, and _then_ I was kicked out of the house and without computer/internet access for quite a while.

But anyway, now I have a brand new laptop and a newly set-up wireless internet connection. Yay.

So thanks to all my reviewers – this is the very last chapter, there will be no more. Sorry again for the wait.

Vengeance 

Sasuke's cloak billowed behind him, a black flag raised on a ghostly mast. The battle around him blurred in a collage that only brushed him but never stayed. He had no trouble finding his quarry. He knew Naruto better than anyone.

For the first time since he had killed Itachi, Sasuke's mind was cleared of all obstacles. It was like a hail back to the days he had spent with Orochimaru, when everything was coldly simple. Fight. Become stronger. Hate, hate, hate.

Itachi took the weakest pieces of Sasuke, the pieces he couldn't destroy, and wrapped them in cloth where they could sit without being touched. His goal was only: Kill Naruto. Possess the Kyuubi. It was a beautiful sense of freedom.

Naruto was easily found in the midst of the fray, barking confused orders to confused underlings from the roof of the Hokage's estate. He fought with the strength of desperation.

Giving no warning Sasuke launched his attack. Shadow clones from behind and above threw Naruto off the roof down two stories to the ground, Naruto barely breaking the fall. Sasuke didn't pause for breath, following up with a line of shuriken that Naruto only narrowly managed to roll away from. Coughing from the clouds of dust blown up, Naruto dodged blow after blow, never getting fully on his feet, finally falling forwards, grinding his teeth into the earth.

"This is all the strength of the revered Hokage?" Sasuke laughed over him. "What a joke."

Naruto coughed again on the dust clouding the air about them both. Slowly, not giving any hint of his movement, he formed seals with his hands trapped under his stomach.

"Why waste time bragging when you can attack?" Sasuke didn't have time for a witty reply before the dust around him solidified into fist-sized winged creatures that smothered him with their wings, pinning his arms to his sides and plastering themselves over his mouth and nose.

Eyes watering from the dust, Naruto watched as Sasuke struggled against his bonds, face coloring and the muscles in his neck straining from the weight of the clinging wings. Then he went slack.

_Oh God. _Suddenly hit by the gravity of what he had done, Naruto rushed forward and peeled a pair of creatures off Sasuke's mouth.

Sasuke's eyes snapped open and the clouds of wings were thrown off him to disappear into smoke and dust. A swift gut-punch threw Naruto flopping to the ground like a dying fish, gasping for his lost breath.

"Konoha is burning," Sasuke taunted. "Look how well the Hokage has taken care of his people."

Squinting through watering eyes, the wavering light of flames met Naruto's eyes. He could smell blood and fear. People called to him, begging for help, direction, hope. He had none to give.

"You have failed." The energies began to gather in Sasuke's hand, the screeching birds of the move he had intended to finish Naruto off with so many years ago.

_Naruto stood in the formal ceremonial hall in Konoha. All the village elders were present to anoint him as the Sixth Hokage. He was taking his oath. He had spend the three nights trying to memorize it. He's said it so many times the words had lost all meaning. He knew he'd forget it all the next day._

"_...to protect those entrusted to my care, to see the great for those who can only see the small, to make decisions that none else can make..."_

"_You are now the Sixth Hokage. You are now Konohagakure."_

"No." Naruto whispered into the earth that was now soaked with the blood of his people. "I _am_ Konohagakure."

As Naruto spoke, the earth under him began to vibrate. Sensing it, Sasuke's head rose to attempt to sense the new threat.

"Do you know why we're called the village hidden in the leaves?" The rumbling became stronger and the battle paused to look around itself. The wind had stopped.

In an instant the sky and land inverted and the leaves blocked out the ground and the roots covered the sun. Then everything was right again and the leaves were in the air and the roots were in the ground, tugging, tying, slapping, squeezing, slicing, ripping, popping. Roots climbed out of the earth and leaves screamed in the air, destructive and beautiful, transforming the intruders unto living trees.

Sasuke ripped with his hands, formed seals, blew fire around his body, but nothing would stop the force of Konoha. After only moments blood began to seep from between the roots encircling him and his face was nearly unrecognizable, skinned, and bleeding from raw pores. He looked at Naruto, but Naruto just looked back. The Hokage would do nothing. Sasuke understood he was dying.

_It's not betrayal when your opponent strikes first. _Naruto said that to himself, but Sasuke's gaze said something else to him. He told himself that Sasuke was crying from the physical pain. Naruto wasn't even sure if the liquid streaking his friend's face was even tears – it was too thickly tempered with blood.

Naruto could see Sasuke's lips moving through the veil of spinning leaves and groping roots, trying to tell him something. Naruto moved towards his old friend, squinting to read the words limping out of Sasuke's mouth.

_Woe to the man who reaches the summit of the tallest mountain – all he can do is jump off._

Sasuke's lips barely moved, forming his last words. _I jumped off_.

"I'm not sorry." Naruto said, loathing the words but recognizing their truth. "I would do it all again."

Sasuke would never hear Naruto's reply. He was already dead.

xxxx

I feel like I owe a few clarifications as to the events so far. So...

The 'unnamed female Akatsuki woman' (I hate making OCs so I figured I'd cop out on the name...) mentioned harbors the Nekomata. According to Wikipedia, the Nekomata holds a certain power over the dead. Essentially for her own amusement as well as to further the ends of Akatsuki (that is, to aquire the Kyuubi) she messed with Sasuke's head a bit by summoning Itachi's spirit into his body, with Itachi's ring as a medium. Sasuke's weird dreams were a result of his possession.

Akatsuki suspected that Sasuke was a softie, so they got Nekomata chick to babysit him and make sure he got the job done. They knew Sasuke's power, and also that he was best placed to kill Naruto (Naruto would not be all that willing to kill Sasuke), so they used him to achieve their ends. Too bad it didn't work out.

Also, I came up with the character long before the Akatsuki duo that kills the Nekomata jinchuuriki shows up... so there is incongruity with the canon.

Sasuke says some somewhat cryptic stuff when he dies. "Woe to the man who reaches the summit of the tallest mountain – all he can do is jump off... I jumped off." What I was _trying_ to get at is the feeling of emptiness that both Sasuke and Naruto felt once they achieved their goals. Sasuke killed Itachi, Naruto became Hokage, but nothing really got any better. In fact, things got _worse_, because both no longer had a passionate and driving goal to motivate them. Sasuke and Naruto climbed their respective mountains but found that their climbing had placed them very far apart from each other, which was painful for both of them. In the end, though, Naruto realized that being Hokage was not a summit to be reached – it was a duty to be fulfilled and constantly renewed. Naruto placed his goal above his bond with Sasuke, finally realizing that he could not force Sasuke to live his way no matter how much he cared for his friend.


End file.
